Apparatus for the manufacture of gas



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. F. M. MGCARTY. APPARATUS FOR THE MANPAGTURE 0E' GAS. No. 343,525. Panama June s, V1886.

A A M WzfJvEssEs UWM/TOR (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet.

. W. F. M. MQCARTY.

APPARATUS POR THB MANUFAGTURB OIGAS. No. 343,525.4. Patented June 8, 1886.

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IINrrED STATES PATENT jOEErcED WILLIAM F. M. MOOARTY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JANE LOGAN, OF HAGERSTOVVN, MARYLAND, AND ADOLPH OHL AND BERNARD C. LAUTH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 343,525, dated June 8, 1886.

Application led November 30, 1885. Serial No. 184,316. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. M. MC- CARTY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of' Philadelphia 5 and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Gas, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certainimprovements in the manufacture of gas for general heating and illuminating purposes; and it has for its objects to provide an apparatus whereby natural gas may be utilized in connection I 5 with water-gas and a suitable hydrocarbon,

when desired, to produce a permanent or fixed gas of great heating capacity and any desired illuminating standard, as more fully hereinafter specified. These objects I attain by the 2o means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a perspective view of my improved apparatus, with a portion of the same broken away, showing the means of ap- 2 5 plying the generated xed gas to the heating of the apparatus for decomposing, uniting, and fixing the gases employed for the production of the final permanent gas; and Fig. 2 represents a transverse vertical sectional view of 3o the apparatus.

In the said drawings, the letter A indicates an arched furnace, the walls of which may be constructed of masonry or any other suitable material. 1

B indicates the fire-box, and C the combustion-chamber, of the same.

Through the walls of the furnace, at one side, extend a series of horizontal longitudinal pipes, D, which project at the front and rear 4o of the furnace, and are alternately formedwith return-bends D, so as to constitute a continuous series or passage, commencing at E at the base of the furnace and terminating atFat the crown of the same. The lower front end of 45 the series of pipes is branched, as indicated in Fig. l of the drawings, one branch, G, connecting with a supply-pipe leading from the natural-gas delivery, and the other, H, with agen#l erator for supplying carb'onic-oXide gas. At

the junction of the branches is located a three- 5o way valve, I, by means of which the admission of the gases may be controlled, so that they may be supplied in the proper relative pro# portions'to the pipes D. The upper pipe of the before-mentioned series of pipes D connects at 5g its forward end with the forward end of one of the lower retorts of a bench of retorts, L, which project at the front of the furnace. The said retorts are located in the combustionchamber above the fire-chamber of the fur- 6o nace, and are connected at their front ends by the pipes M, which are provided with valves N, and at their rear ends bypipes P. (Shown in dotted linesin Fig.2.) The upper retort ofthe bench communicates with the upper pipe of a 65 series of pipes,R,which pass longitudinally and horizontally through the wall of the furnace in the same manner, but on the side opposite the pipes D, before mentioned, the lower pipe of the last-mentioned series branching at its front 7o end, as indicated by the letters S T, the branch S connecting with a suitable storage-reservoir or gas-holder, and the branch T with a pipe having a series of burners, V, located in the firechamber directly under the retorts, as 75 plainly shown in both figures of the drawings. The branch T may be provided with a stopcock, V', by which the delivery of gas to the burners may be regulated and controlled as desired. The pipes extending through the 8o side walls run close to the inner surfaces of the same, so as to be effectively heated 5 or they may be laid adjacent to said walls, and covered with a coating of fire-clay of sufficient thickness to protect them from the destructive 8 5 Y effect of the direct heat of the fire.

The operation of my improved apparatus is as follows: The retorts are rst filled with iinely-dividediron, preferably scrap-iron, and the retorts are initially heated in any convengo ient manner. When the proper heat is attained in the furnace, the natural gas and the water-gas are supplied to the pipes D in proper proportions, wherein the natural gas is gradually heated and expanded to its greatest ten- 95 sion. The combined gases, which are now in a highly-heated state, pass to the retorts, where they are brought into intimate contact with the iroinwhichis heated to about 1,500". The iron takes up a portion of the oxygen of the carbonio acid of the combined gases, and another portion of the oxygen of the carbonio acid forms,with the excess of hydrogen,water, which may be condensed and separated, and frees the saine of carbonio acid, While a portion ofthe hydrogen combines with the natural gas, forming acetylene, a gaseous hydrocarbon of considerable illuniinating-power. The gases then pass into the pipes R, through which, during their passage, they are iixed at a gradually-decreasing heat, and from whence they are passed to the holder or partly supplied to the burners for heating the furnace.

rlhe water-gas can be enriched by mingling it with a fluid hydrocarbon before it is iningled with the natural gas; or the fluid hydrocarbon may be admitted into the upper retort through the pipe or pipes I after the natural gas and Water-gas have been heated and puriied through the retorts.

Having thus described 1ny invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-M 1. The coinbinatiolnwilh the heatingepipes,

wherein the natural gas is heated and expanded and comlningled with the carbonio acid (COQ and free hydrogen, of the purifying-retorts and the fixing-pipes located on the side of the retorts opposite that of the heating-1 pipes, Whereby the gases are initially heated and expanded, then purified and enriched by the introduction of a hydrocarbon, and finally fixed to produce a permanent gas, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, Withthe pipes wherein the gases are heated, of the purifying-retorts and the fixing-pipes located on the side of the retorts opposite that of the heating-pipes located within the Walls of the furnace, and extending from the crown to the base of the same, whereby the gas is fixed at a graduallyreduced temperature, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

NVM. F. M. MCCARTY.

Witnesses:

1WM. Il. DE LACY, L. W. 'SrNsMzAUGiL 

